A Whole Different Level
by umbreonix
Summary: TWO SHOT STORY. Rio was perfect, everyone in town loved her and she was that infuriating kind of "I can do whatever I set my mind to" type of person. Then there was Neil and someone like him who was grumpy and insecure would never be good for her. They were about as different as night and day, but the thing is, as magnets have shown us, opposites attract.
1. Chapter 1

**This story is only a two shot. It's not interfering with the updating rate of my other stories, this has been in my documents forever. I'm sorry I haven't updated my other stories in a while, I'm in the middle of mid-terms. I don't really have any time to write entirely new chapters to anything. As it is I just fixed this up because I seriously needed a break from staring at rocks. Really I do. I think its getting to me. My last exam's Saturday and then I'll probably start updating again.**

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He watched disinterestedly from his animal stall as the farmer ran her errands around town. He yawned sprawling forwards on the counter like a cat observing how her hair flew in every which direction in the wind as she whizzed in and out of stores, occasionally stopping to chat.

She did not, he noted, ever stop long. She was busy after all, revitalizing the town, working her farm, and doing whatever else she was always off doing. She was a lot like him really, not particularly close to anyone, yet she was also completely different. To the whole town she was simply in a whole other league. She never did anything for herself it seemed and was kind to everyone. She was like the sun, a brilliant light that shone over the village and through the hearts of the villagers- even Neil who was, on a regular day, colder than the North and South poles combined. Not that he'd ever admit he had a smidge of affection for her.

She was loved by all and yet also somehow intimidating. There was a clear distance between her and everyone else, after all, who could ever be confident enough to stand next to her and be compared? Her zigzagged speed walking finally set in one last direction, towards him. He looked away quickly before they made eye contact, grazing his finger over the wood grains of the counter top.

"Neil!" She called brightly. He forced himself to look up with his usual annoyed expression, when in actuality, he had stopped feeling annoyed by her visits seasons ago. He watched the farmer run up to his stall wearily. "What do you want Rio? If you're not buying anything again scram."

Her mega-watt smile flickered but she tilted her head playfully and laughed, "Don't be so grumpy, I'll let you in on a little known secret." At this she leaned forward over the counter. So close to him that he had to resist looking away or backing up. "People who are happy are scientifically proven to be happier."

_Well obviously_, He thought. He could not understand how he could have ever come to like such a frustrating and annoyingly optimistic girl. Even now she smiled in the most maddening way, her lips curled in and her eyes crinkled, obviously in effort to not laugh at her own joke before he cracked first. He would not.

"You're holding up the line." He told her without a trace of humour.

She jumped back and turned to apologize to the person behind her profusely, only to find there was no one there. "Oh." She said sadly, which nearly snapped his heart in two. Rio was never sad… unless she was with him. Another reason he was no good for her, and never would be.

"I just wanted to say that I'm hosting another movie night tonight if, uh, if you wanted to come?" She asked sending him a hopeful glance.

She already knew what he was going to say. "No." It's what he always said, no explanation, no excuse, just "no."

This time was a little different, "You don't need to keep asking me." He sighed, "I know you're trying to be nice but social meetings aren't really my scene."

She shook her head, "I'm not being nice at all, maybe even selfish. I only ask because I really want you to be there."

He took a moment, "Oh really? That's uh-" He was not succeeding in fighting the heat rising to his face. "I have to work now." He turned away from her accidentally making eye contact with Rod who grinned and gave him a sloppy thumbs up.

Neil scowled.

"Okay…" She said hesitantly, "Bye Neil… See you around?" She said the last part hopefully and he decided to throw her a bone,

"Yeah, see you around." He sighed.

She smiled again and ran off and he frowned, how could that one sentence make her that happy?

"You know." Said Rod, "You could try being nice to her. Maybe she'd come to like you."

"What makes you think I care whether she likes me or not?" Neil asked wishing his talkative friend would just stop.

"Why wouldn't you? She's pretty, and nice and talented…" Rod said counting on his fingers.

"Then you go out with her." The blonde scowled.

"Me?" The pet seller flushed and Neil felt even more irritated, "I don't know, I mean how do I put it… how would I ever ask her out? It just seems like she's on a whole other level."

There it was again, "a whole other level." Neil didn't talk to people much but being situated in the middle of the plaza he grudgingly overheard a lot of talk. The girls of the town too intimidated to ask her to hang out, the guys not even bothering to flirt with her and the other people admiringly putting her on a pedestal as a ray of light for the new generation.

He almost felt bad for her, she was way to humble to ever think of herself that way. All she ever seemed to want was to be part of the town, yet the more she tried the larger the gap between her and the general public grew.

Then again, it wasn't any of his business. With Rio now gone and unable to entertain him, he looked to the sky in boredom. He was bad at the cloud game though, all he ever saw were sheep.

After a long day with very little business and the usual long haul to the sanctuary and back he finally made it home, wearily swiping for the light switch in the dark of his room. He finally got it and the house's glaring fluorescent lighting went on. He squinted, and trudged over to the side of his bed, impatiently kicking off his boots before he collapsed onto the old mattress with a "poomph", too tired to even take off his coat.

He considered just sleeping but became restless as he lay there. For whatever reason, Rio's face kept popping into his head. She had just looked so disappointed. She always invited a lot of people though, she wouldn't really care if he was there or not right? She probably wouldn't even notice his absence.

He groaned and finally hopped out of the bed, throwing on his boots and adjusting his jacket before heading out the door, pausing only to check his hair in the mirror.

Knock. knock, knock. His stomach flurried with apprehension, despite his neutral expression. Why was he here? She wasn't expecting him as he full out declined her offer, what would he say? "I changed my mind"?

No matter what it was going to be awkward.

He considered turning away. He could still make a run for it and no one would be any the wiser. His hopes for escape shattered as the door creaked open. Rio blinked, standing in her pajamas with a confused expression. "Neil? What are you doing here?"

"Weren't you doing something tonight?" He asked, ears turning red.

"Oh the movie night?" She asked, "That was cancelled, there's going to be a huge storm."

"Oh." He said shifting his weight on the spot awkwardly. "Okay bye." He quickly turned away.

"Wait!"

He looked back.

"Look at those clouds, it'll start any second. Get in now while it's safe." She pleaded desperately.

"It's fine." He said, "I'll make it in ti-"

It began to rain. "I'll get back before it gets too heavy." He corrected, then began to walk away. She grabbed his wrist.

"Don't! I don't want you to get hurt!" She cried. Lightning flashed and he could feel her flinch through her hand. He glanced at her.

"Are you afraid of storms?" He asked.

She looked away in embarrassment, "No." She was obviously lying.

"Fine." He sighed and let her pull him into the house.

They stood at the front door for a moment unsure of what to do in this unfamiliar situation. "We could, um, still watch the movie if you want." She said, "I don't think you'd like it though. It's a romance." She blushed.

"Sure." He said.

She looked a little surprised, but nodded and led him to the couch, it didn't matter what the movie was, it could even be a documentary about drying paint, he'd rather watch anything as long as it meant they didn't have to force conversation.

She knelled down and set up the old dvd player and returned as the film started, sitting as far away as possible on the long sofa. The movie progressed however and she gradually migrated closer to him at each beat up thunder. He didn't think she even noticed she was doing it until she accidentally bumped into him and they both blushed.

In confusion she looked back to where she had been sitting and then at him. She scooched a little away with a quiet, "sorry."

"uh, yeah." He said hiding his red face.

As the plot developed she seemed to forget about the storm and kept her eyes transfixed on the screen. Neil, who couldn't care less about the film watched from the corner of his eye.

She looked away at the kissing seen in embarrassment hugging her pillow and he failed at suppressing a snort, she glared at him and he quickly turned back to the screen. Soon after the movie ended. He was grateful it was way too cheesy and the ending was downright corny.

The lights turned on and he jumped, he hadn't even noticed she got up. A goofy smile adorned her face and she practically skipped back.

"You like these kinds of movies." He commented.

"Maybe." She twiddled a strand of her hair.

"Why?" He asked finding himself curious.

"Isn't it sweet? The relationship between two people? Plus watching it just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I wonder if I'll ever have something like that?" She said wistfully and then froze turning deep red, "I can't believe I just said that. Forget it."

"Why wouldn't you?" Asked Neil.

She shuffled on the couch, "I've never gotten that kind of opportunity. I think there's something wrong with me, I've known lots of guys but none have ever seemed interested in me, it's like I emit this anti-pheromone."

"That's not it." He found himself saying.

"Then what?" She asked.

"You're just… in a whole other league."

She frowned.

"Any of the guys in this town would go out with you." He continued.

"Any?" She asked quietly.

"Any." He confirmed.

"Even uh… nevermind." She blushed.

"What?" He asked.

"It's nothing!" She exclaimed whacking him with her pilllow in her inexplicable outburst. "Nothing at all..." She repeated refusing to make eye contact.

"Alright then." He said doubtfully and they sat in silence as they waited out the storm.

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**For once I made Neil the dense one. Fun XD**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok. Don't be mad but I actually had this chapter written the day after I posted the first one, it just didn't feel right. Though looking at it now it seems okay for some reason so I thought, "eh, I'll post it."**

**Though I think I may be done with one shots, I just don't feel right without all those chapters of build up.**

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Fall was now around the corner. With work done for the day and no where he had to be, Neil lounged on his sofa next to an open window which filled the room with what was to be at least another hour of natural light as well as the scent of crisp leaves. He closed his eyes, enthralled by the silence. "Neil!" A very close voice said breathlessly and he jumped a little with a start, bracing himself on the couch's arm and glaring at the culprit out the window. Rod stood on his lawn outside, clearly winded from the urgency in which he rushed over to deliver the message.

"What?" He asked he asked, hiding the concern growing in him as he watched the pet seller gasp for breath . Rod held up a finger, "One *wheeze*, one sec…. I just.. gotta… breathe."

Finally looking a little more together, Rod hopped the window ledge landing on the couch where Neil's legs would have still been if he hadn't retracted them in alarm. "You couldn't have used the front door right beside you like a normal person?!" He began to protest in irritation but Rod simply clamped a hand and either of the dealer's shoulders. Neil craned his neck back, a little uncomfortable at the close proximity. "Allen." Rod finally said.

"Yeah?" Neil prompted, standing up and stepping out of his pincer grip.

"He's asking Rio to go see the fireworks!" He reported urgently.

The blonde felt a lump grow in the bottom of his chest but he ignored it. "Why should I care? Goddess! I thought someone was dying or something!"

"But-" Rod pouted.

Neil growled, "I'm telling you now, if the next thing you say has anything to do with this unfound fantasy you have of Rio and I, I swear to the Harvest King that-" Rod shook his head violently so he let the threat hang. "Good."

"I have to go now." Rod said, standing and backing away quickly toward the door, "I actually ran straight here from a conversation with Allen." He admitted, "he thinks I'm in the bathroom but really I snuck out."

"His bathroom's on the second floor!" Neil exclaimed.

Rod rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I climbed down/ fell into his bushes."

Neil shook his head in disbelief. "Why?" He asked.

"This was important!" Rod argued. "You only have now to go ask her first, I'll distract him, I mean he's my best friend but you-"

Neil sighed and followed Rod to the front door, "Listen, I'm really grateful that'd you'd do all this for me but this just isn't going to happen."

Rod shot him the puppy-dog eyes and he grimaced, said a quick goodbye, and shut him out on the other side of the door.

Only once it closed did he sigh and walk defeated to his bed, sitting on the edge and squeezing the sheets under his grip. The whole Allen thing didn't matter to him one bit, or at least it shouldn't have. It's not like he ever had any plans to go out with her or anything, and he didn't want her to be alone forever, not after she admitted how badly she wanted to fall in love.

Allen, was a good match. Well, he was an egotistical piece of work but at least that meant that he wouldn't treat her like she was too good for him.

So what if Neil had some affections for her? Those were quick to squash.

Yet he dwelled on the thought of seeing them together every day, seeing them walk hand in hand through the town and could just see that guy leaning over and kissing her head with a pompous smirk in the animal stall's direction.

He slumped down, laying face up on his mattress. Come tomorrow he'd forget about it but maybe just for tonight he'd lament on what would now never be.

The next day seemed a little brighter. Until of course ten am hit. He was open for business and now once again had nothing better to do than get lost in thought. And of course below the plaza was the roof of the stylist which reminded him of a certain something he was giving his everything into forgetting. He looked away.

The day only really got worse from there, of the customers he did get he was especially curt and the animals, sensing his mood, simply wouldn't calm down.

Perhaps the worst of all of it though was the worried looks Rod cast at him from the other stall when he thought Neil couldn't see. He could.

The day really couldn't end fast enough, and when it did another surprise was waiting for him. A surprise in the form of a pretty blonde waiting outside his house with a jar of yak's milk. "Hi Neil." She smiled when she noticed him approaching. He nodded.

"I brought you some yak's milk! It's been awhile since you tasted it and I want your opinion." She said and handed him the glass without waiting for a response.

He took a sip. "Not bad." He nodded, "Great improvement." He added for good measure. This was pretty much the highest praise he could ever bestow. With that he began to head into the house.

"Wait!" She said desperately.

He turned back, "what?"

She looked at a loss. "Um, I don't know we just haven't spoken in a while. I thought it'd be nice…"

The absolute last thing he wanted to do was let her in yet his body betrayed him and he opened the door wider to allow room for her to walk past him, she shuffled into the house and they sat at the table.

"So," He started, "I hear Allen asked you to the fireworks." He wanted to punch himself, and now they were on a topic he was planning to avoid at all costs, AND IT WAS HIS OWN FAULT. Stupid, stupid Neil.

"Yeah." She sighed.

"Well that's good." He said.

She looked at him in surprise. "It is?"

"Isn't it?" He countered.

"I said no." She said.

He stopped at looked at her, a wave of relief washed over him but then he shook his head. "Why? You're the one who was complaining about how no one would go out with her." He realized the second those words were out that they were worded very badly.

"Excuse me?" She said. She was mad, actually mad. Yeah Rio the happy-go-lucky farmer, go figure.

"Well-"

"Listen, I'm not so desperate that I'll just jump on the first person who asks me out! I have to like them first!" She said.

"You could come to like him." He pointed out.

"I don't want to! I have someone I want to ask me!" She rebuttled. He could see the realization dawn on her a moment later to what she had just admitted but she looked at him defiantly.

"Do you now?" He asked.

"Yeah, but Goddess knows why! He's such a dense uncaring jerk!" She ran out the door and a moment later it hit him like a two tonne block, was she talking about him?

If he were retelling the story he would like to say that he immediately sprang into action, chasing her dramatically down the walkway like in the movies she loved so much, but he didn't. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes, in deep thought and reflection. It was probably best this way… it was probably best… he knew this and yet there he was already half way out the door.

From his vantage point he could see a flash of her cow print stenson disappear at the turn into her property. Another moment of deliberation, "I'm an idiot." He said under his breathe and then broke out into a run.

He was panting by the time he made it to the old wooden dock at the other end of the farm. Forgetting his composure he caught his breath, kneeling over. It didn't really look good on him considering that she had just made the run herself and wasn't in the least bit phased by it.

She didn't turn to face him, instead opting to continue facing out to the stream. She sniffed and he realized she must be crying.

"I'm really sorry Rio." He said, forking out one of his rare apologies.

"I don't want us to fight, you're an important customer." He said.

She managed a single bitter laugh.

"But you're also someone who is important to me… in other ways too…" He admitted feeling his face heat up from the embarrassment. She straighted a little and turned her head a fraction so at least an ear faced him. A small droplet of salty water ran down her cheek and it gnawed at him inside. "I'm not really good with people… I try but I just always say the wrong things. Well, you knew that." He attempted a half-smile. It wasn't very successful. "I like to observe though, from my stall. When you talk to Rod about things you both like, you just light up. You smile when Soseki pets your head. You go completely animate when you show off the town to Amir and Sanjay but all I can ever do is make you feel bad."

She hugged her legs tighter.

"At the same time though, it tore me up when I thought of you and Allen." He admitted. She turned around again this time fully with a look of surprise.

"Yeah, I guess you could say I like you. Too much to want to drag you down." He averted eyes contact.

"Don't I get a say in any of this?" She asked.

"Do you really want to try this out? I mean I'm just me and you're Rio." He frowned.

She scowled. "I am sick of hearing that! You know what? I'm not perfect, you villagers are delusional there is no perfect! I can't stand carrots, I refuse to grow them. I failed at science and English in highschool and had to retake them on my summer break. Both of them Neil! Usually if you're bad at one you're at least good at the other, and it wasn't even that I didn't try! Some of the restoration plans Dunhill put in my hands I smiled and agreed to doing but then spent the next two hours weeping in my home. No matter what I do I can't seem to fit into this town, and I don't want to hear any of the 'too good' garbage! You know the reason why I chose movie nights? It's the least awkward form of interaction because you all just sit there and watch a movie! Also- yes. I actually_ am_ petrified of storms." She said all of this angrily, slowly rising to her feet. "What else? I-"

Neil cut her off wrapping her up in an embrace, "It's okay Rio, you can stop." His face was mere inches from hers but she made no effort to move, watching his lips carefully and a little hopefully.

He felt bad making her reveal everything in front of him so he began to share as well. "I'm so awkward that I can't talk to anyone without scowling, I've been playing guitar for eight years and still have never gotten the confidence to play in front of a single other person and worst of all, I keep making the girl I like sad, and I was so wrapped up in my little bubble of self-deprecation I couldn't even see that she felt the exact same way I did." She finally closed that agonizing gap between them with a soft and fleeting kiss before burying her face into his shoulder and shook, sniffing loudly and clutching at his coat.

"I was so lonely." She sobbed.

"Yeah." He said solemnly, "Me too."

Their first date was not like any other. They sat at the end of the dock, boots discarded as their feet splashed in the quiet waters. They spent the time continuing to list off every fault they had, but neither would ever say it was anything less than perfect.

At the end he entwined his fingers in hers and just looked at her, "So after all that are you really sure you still want to go out?"

She whacked his shoulder with her available hand, "You can't worm your way out of this now. You know every one of my secrets, either I'd have to kill you or you're stuck with me 'till marriage." That part was supposed to be a joke, but it was much funnier a year or so later when he playfully re-told it at the wedding's reception speech.


End file.
